I toss the vast majority of flyers we receive straight into our oversized recycling bin, but this one caught my attention:
Any contractor who invokes thermodynamics in his advertising—indeed, makes it central to his sales pitch— deserves at least some consideration the next time we’re having work done.
In a closed system, disorder will increase, yes. However we live in a Universe that is itself a machine of evolution and many systems in the bounds of the Universe increase in complexity through time. What is amiss?
It should be noted that the first law of thermodynamics is not contradicted by natural processes that accumulate in complexity through time. Rather, what is challenged is the incorrect assumption that “The Universe is a closed system.” If the Universe were a closed system, a cup of coffee left on a table would get hotter through time. A closed system is one where preesure/volume and temperature/entropy are constrained but the Universe is expanding, so clearly the Universe is not a closed system.
Finally, in my experience, most home improvement contractors seem to be governed more principally by Heisenberg’s Uncertainty: The most you know about their position, the less you know about their momentum. The more you know about their momentum, the less you know about their position…
Also the question: “When will you be finished working?” is usually a proposition subject to the determination of Schrodinger’s cat… The job will be finished once you have observed it completed… until then…